Charges filed in New York ‘Hot Skates’ cold case, after 3 wrongly convicted men spent almost 40 years in prison for murder

Nassau County prosecutors charged a man in the infamous 1984 “Hot Skates” murder of Theresa Fusco, possibly concluding a cold case that sent three innocent men to prison for nearly four decades.

District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025, that Richard Bilodeau, 63, faces second-degree murder charges after investigators matched his DNA to evidence collected from Fusco’s crime scene, who was 16 when she died.

Detectives said they obtained the sample earlier this year from discarded items, including a paper cup, and the results produced a “conclusive” genetic match.

The 1984 ‘Hot Skates’ murder

Fusco worked part-time at the Hot Skates roller rink in Lynbrook. On November 10, 1984, co-workers saw her leave the rink after being fired from her job. She never came home. Three weeks later, searchers found her body in a wooded area nearby. She had been raped and strangled.

Police arrested John Kogut, John Restivo, and Dennis Halstead in 1985 and 1986, claiming Kogut had confessed and that hair evidence linked the trio to the crime. All three men insisted they were innocent, but a Nassau County jury convicted them of rape and murder in 1986. They each received life sentences.

For nearly 20 years, lawyers and innocence advocates fought to reopen the case. When DNA testing advanced in the early 2000s, analysts re-examined the evidence. The results excluded all three men and pointed instead to an unknown male profile. A court overturned Kogut’s conviction in 2003, and prosecutors dropped the charges against Restivo and Halstead soon after.

The men later won $18 million each in a civil settlement for wrongful imprisonment, one of the largest payouts in New York’s history.

Bilodeau, who once ran a mobile coffee truck in the Lynbrook area, lived near the roller rink at the time of the killing. He pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance and remains in custody without bail. His next hearing is set for November 21. If convicted, Bilodeau faces 25 years to life in prison.